Mongolian Music:
An Interview with Altai-Hangai

Photo: Jack Vartoogian

Altai-Hangai is a Mongolian musical group that fuses the sounds of traditional throat-singing and horse-head fiddle with contemporary forms of jazz. Named after the Altai Mountains and Hangai Steppes of Central Mongolia, Altai-Hangai's music invokes Mongolia's harsh climate, the Mongolian reverence for nature, as well as Mongolia's intense love of horses.

The group, made up of Palamshav Childaa, Ganbold Muukha, Ganzorig Nergui, and Byambakhishig Lhagva, has also received a great deal of international acclaim. After hearing one of their performances, world famous-cellist YoYo Ma was so impressed that he invited Altai-Hangai to join him on his solo tour of Europe.

Can you talk a little bit about the horse-head fiddle and its Mongolian origins?

Horse-head fiddle is a traditional Mongolian instrument. The history is based on the legend of a man who had a horse. He loved this horse. It was the best horse. It was magical; it could fly and this man was always with his horse. An evil man killed the horse. And the man wanted to remember this horse and the relationship between horse and man. So when you hear this music you will hear horse sounds. This instrument is now created of wood and the strings are horse tail. Because of the climate and the humidity in the U.S., the strings we perform with here are not horse tail, but in Mongolia they are made of horse tail. Originally, the handle of the horse-head fiddle was made of horse ribs and the entire fiddle was made from horse parts. For example, this base is made of horse skin and this handle is made of horse ribs and the strings are made of tails and this head actually shows the horse.

Are many of the songs about horses? Why is the horse so important to Mongolian music and Mongolian culture?

The music itself imitates horse sounds. For Mongolians, horses are best friends. A horse is a man's shadow, it goes with him wherever he goes. It's like a car. Everything revolves around the horse. We travelled all around the world by horse. Even today, we worship the horse. It's one of our treasures.

Can we talk about throat-singing? How did you learn to throat-sing?

Throat-singing describes nature, seasons, wind, everything about nature. It imitates all the sounds of nature, water, wind. The lyrics can also tell a story. Some are epic stories about heroes, and some are praise songs, about places or people. Epic songs use overwhelming and exaggerated terms. It is very artistic and beautiful.

Did you learn formally in a school? How long did it take?

I started when I was 14. It took one year to learn basics and after that I developed my voice. I studied at home, by myself. We don't have a school for throat-singing.

In Mongolia, is it unusual to be a musician professionally as opposed to being a herdsman or craftsmen and a musician on the side?

It really depends now on the person and the talent. We are influenced by our families. They are all musicians and singers in addition to being herdsman. Our music is based on life experience and heritage. We are independent artists, but for along time Mongolian musicians were under Communists and everything was closed. Tradition was covered up during the Communist time. But after 1990, when Communism came down and democracy came, everything became free and a lot of independent artists came up.

Did the musical tradition continue under Communism? Is there a revival of traditional music in Mongolia today?

It went underground (during Communism) and now there is a revival. During the Communist time the tradition was secluded, but we had a musical school. But after Mongolians graduated from musical school, they had to go into other fields. And we were told what to do. Many good teachers (of traditional music) died during that time and now we are the beginners of the new time.

How has jazz music and classical European music influenced your work? How do you keep your music traditional Mongolian while incorporating other influences?

Jazz's influence makes our work bigger and broadens our range. It makes our music more beautiful. Tradition is our foundation and base. Jazz just gives us directions. When you play piano, the sound is more interesting and garnishes the traditional music.

How is it different performing for a Mongolian audience and performing for a European or American audience?

Whether our audience is Mongolians or Europeans, everyone is so excited about our work and so happy. It's a totally new thing for everybody, in Mongolia and all over the world. But we haven't played very much in Mongolia, mostly in France, Norway, Switzerland, all over Europe. But music in Mongolia is everywhere. There is a traditional theater. For Mongolians, this is traditional music and they are excited about tradition. Mongolian audiences describe their emotions by clapping (during the music) and there is a lot of interaction and it gives is a lot of energy. Our audience is like a second nature. We get feelings from the audience. If they clap louder and bigger, we feel more energetic and excited. It's our job to make audiences excited. The music is from our soul and from our hearts and this makes us original.

Excerpted from an interview conducted by Michelle Caswell, AsiaSource.